Ender's Shadow

By Orson Scott Card

Ender's Shadow - Orson Scott Card
  • Release Date: 2002-05-19
  • Genre: Science Fiction
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 1,007 Ratings

Description

Orson Scott Card brings us back to the very beginning of his brilliant Ender Quartet, with the novel that begins The Shadow Series and allows us to reenter Ender's world anew.

With all the power of his original creation, Ender's Shadow is Card's parallel volume to Ender's Game, a book that expands and complements the first, enhancing its power, illuminating its events and its powerful conclusion.

The human race is at War with the "Buggers", an insect-like alien race. The first battles went badly, and now as Earth prepares to defend itself against the imminent threat of total destruction at the hands of an inscrutable alien enemy, all focus is on the development and training of military geniuses who can fight such a war, and win.

The long distances of interstellar space have given hope to the defenders of Earth--they have time to train these future commanders up from childhood, forging then into an irresistible force in the high orbital facility called the Battle School.

Andrew "Ender" Wiggin was not the only child in the Battle School; he was just the best of the best. In this new book, card tells the story of another of those precocious generals, the one they called Bean--the one who became Ender's right hand, part of his team, in the final battle against the Buggers.

Bean's past was a battle just to survive. He first appeared on the streets of Rotterdam, a tiny child with a mind leagues beyond anyone else's. He knew he could not survive through strength; he used his tactical genius to gain acceptance into a children's gang, and then to help make that gang a template for success for all the others. He civilized them, and lived to grow older.

Bean's desperate struggle to live, and his success, brought him to the attention of the Battle School's recruiters, those people scouring the planet for leaders, tacticians, and generals to save Earth from the threat of alien invasion. Bean was sent into orbit, to the Battle School. And there he met Ender....

THE ENDER UNIVERSE

Ender series
Ender’s Game / Ender in Exile / Speaker for the Dead / Xenocide / Children of the Mind

Ender’s Shadow series
Ender’s Shadow / Shadow of the Hegemon / Shadow Puppets / Shadow of the Giant / Shadows in Flight

Children of the Fleet

The First Formic War (with Aaron Johnston)
Earth Unaware / Earth Afire / Earth Awakens

The Second Formic War (with Aaron Johnston)
The Swarm /The Hive

Ender novellas
A War of Gifts /First Meetings

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Reviews

  • A shadow of the original

    2
    By 282736
    Doesn’t work as a stand alone novel, there’s too much context from the vastly superior Ender’s Game that just doesn’t get translated to Shadow.
  • Ender’s Shadow

    5
    By Officer Wifi Fish
    This is a really great book and I recommend it for people who have already finished Ender’s Game.
  • Wonderful Work

    5
    By Elephants Always Dance
    I love the Shadow series. I do not recommend having middle school students read it. I had forgotten there's a violent rape scene in the beginning.
  • A Must-Read for Anyone

    5
    By Ludi-Luna
    I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys sci-fi or liked Ender’s Game. Orson Scott Card did a stellar job of character portrayal and helping us understand the impossibly fast workings of Bean’s mind, as well as the realistic personalities we find in other characters like Sister Carlotta, Colonel Graff, Poke and Achille de Flandres. It’s about as realistic as a post-modern sci-fi novel can get, and the plot advances at as perfect a pace as is possible. The only books I’ve enjoyed as much were probably the rest of the Shadow Quintet and perhaps the work of J. K. Rowling.
  • Better than Enders Game

    5
    By Dat Boi 27
    My Teacher gave me this book to read after I finished Enders Game And I loved it.
  • Amazing

    5
    By isikionatiki
    The amount of focus in the intricate details required to map out every plot point is awe inspiring. The book weaves an even further in depth story behind Enders Game. This author is truly one of a kind.
  • Ender's Shadow = Unneeded title.

    4
    By The Man Under the Umbrella
    I can see from publishing point of view how to play safe by using this title; however book is a winner on its own. Good fiction + genius writing .
  • Best book

    5
    By NicolasOliva
    For me its a VERY GOOD book, it has more story than the Ender's Games, Im reading it right now and it is incredible how the story shots you in the face
  • 4 stars compared to Enders game

    5
    By gmen12345
    I read Enders game first and I think I would have liked the saga more if I read this first. This book is slower and might be to slow for middle school readers. This book is great and I love how the two story's link. This book is great but not as good as Enders game. Scott orson card spent much more time on the character of Ender and it is rather obvious.
  • Awesome

    5
    By Santa baby 48
    Way way better that enders game But I read enders shadow first so maybe that's why I like enders shadow better